Browse by Tags

Dave dropped me a note last night which reads: Jim, We saw " The Muppets " over the weekend (fun film, by the way), and noticed that the familiar castle logo at the beginning of the film now just says "Disney," instead of " Walt Disney Pictures ." We also noticed this for...

Picture this: It's late June of 1995. And the folks in charge of Disney-MGM Studios are racking their brains, trying to come up with some sort of signature holiday event for that theme park. "The Magic Kingdom had Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and Epcot had its Candlelight Processional...

Earlier this Fall, Disneyana fans could be heard all around the Web griping about the Company's plans for Walt Disney World 's 40 th anniversary. Or lack thereof. "I don't get it," (or words to that effect) was the constant refrain that you saw online. "Why isn't Disney...

You know that " The Muppets " is opening in theaters this Wednesday, right? Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved I mean, how could you not? Given that - for weeks now - virtually every division of The Walt Disney Company has been doing what it can to get the word out about...

Here's an interesting question for all of your Pixar trivia buffs out there: Which "Cars" film do you think was seen by more people? The original from 2006 or this summer's sequel (which was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 1st). And the answer is ... neither. Truth be told,...

How can you resist a face like this? Copyright DreamWorks Animation, L.L.C. All rights reserved American moviegoers clearly couldn't. Which is why - for two weekends in a row - DreamWorks Animation 's " Puss in Boots " was No. 1 at the box office . Given that "Puss" has -...

For a little while there, as I was watching the Halloween episode of " Kick Buttowski - Suburban Daredevil " (which premieres tonight on Disney XD between 7:30 - 8 p.m. ET/PT), I thought that I had stumbled upon this genuinely cool theme park history-related story. Mellowbrook at night. Please...

"I get to walk off into the sunset with Johnny Depp?" Of course, if you had asked Kevin McNally back in 2002 (when he initially auditioned for the role of Joshamee Gibbs in The Curse of the Black Pearl) if he thought that the first Pirates of the Caribbean would spawn a top grossing film series...

Earlier this week, Steve B. wrote in to ask: Dear Jim, When the Disney-MGM Studios theme park opened, it was promoted as a working studio. Both live action and animation were being produced there. There was discussion in the news about the high costs in California driving production out of that state...

It's once again Food & Wine time at the Walt Disney World Resort . Photo by Angela Ragno Now in its 16 th year, Epcot 's International Food & Wine Festival is in full swing. For the next five weeks, foodies will eagerly be eating their way around World Showcase, sampling cuisine from...

Epcot Enthusiast wrote in this week to say: I saw a Tweet today that said that you and Len Testa were touring Future World and World Showcase recording stories for a new " Unofficial Guide Disney Dish with Jim Hill" podcast. Epcot is my very favorite WDW theme park. Could you please share some...

I was sitting at my personal computer, working on a story about Pixar (I was putting together a promo piece for the Cartoon Art Museum 's annual " Spend the day at Pixar Animation Studios" benefit in December) when I learned that Steve Jobs had passed away. Which -- given that this one...

What with covering the opening of this year's International Food & Wine Festival at Epcot on Friday, attending Disney World 's 40 th anniversary celebration at The Magic Kingdom on Saturday as well as recording three brand-new "Unofficial Guide Disney Dish with Jim Hill" iTunes...

Since The Walt Disney Resort has long been associated with fairy tales, I'd like to borrow a turn-of-phrase from "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" to describe Saturday's 40 th anniversary celebration at the Magic Kingdom . It wasn't too long. It wasn't too short. It was just...

Brent SD writes in to ask about JHM's 40 th -anniversary-of- Walt-Disney-World coverage. Or lack thereof. I can't help but notice that while many of the other Disney news sites have been doing article after article this week about Disney World's 40 th birthday, JimHillMedia has been posting...

As the sun sets over Buena Park, CA., Knott's Berry Farm - America's 1 st theme park - undergoes an unusual transformation on select nights in September and October. Photo by Noe Valladolid First a weird fog fills the streets of Ghost Town ... Photo by Noe Valladolid Then out of that mist comes...

" Dumbo " may not be the shortest animated feature that Walt Disney Animation Studios ever produced (" Saludos Amigos " is actually shorter. This 1942 release clocks in a mere 42 minutes long). But if Walt had gone with his original gut feeling on this project, this movie might have...

As a longtime fan of hand-drawn animation, it did my heart good this past weekend to see Disney's "The Lion King" once again wind up on top of the box office heap. To have the 3D version of this 1994 Academy Award-winner gross $30.1 million (which is more than twice what the No. 2 film...

As any good gardener will tell you, Fall is a great time to prune. Why For? Because once the leaves are off the tree, you can actually see what you're doing. More to the point, flowering plants that are pruned back in the autumn usually experience vigorous regrowth the following spring. Photo by...

How does a well-intentioned restoration wind up being thought of as a desecration of a once-popular motion picture? That's what Steven Spielberg seemed to be wondering earlier this week at the 30 th anniversary screening of "Raiders of the Lost Ark." During the Q & A session following...